Editor’s Note: You’re most likely to find our auction coverage in the pages of our print magazines, but David Traver Adolphus had plenty of writeups left over from a recent auction in Canada and thus decided to share them here. Check out the rest of his coverage in upcoming issues of Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and Hemmings Motor News.

At the Ontario Collector Car Productions (formerly RM) auction in October, CCP’s Dan Spendick observed that higher-end cars seemed to be in demand, while “lesser quality cars are getting harder and harder to sell.” Nevertheless, they sold approximately 62 percent of 375 vehicles for $3.5 million. “I was thrilled,” said Dan. “With today’s economy, I thought those were very good numbers.” Selling prices are in Canadian dollars, which were worth under a penny less than the U.S. dollar on October 21; values are thus essentially identical and include 10 percent buyer’s premium.

I’ve seen unrestored Mach 1s, and of course plenty that were restored, but more than 40 years on, it’s now unusual to find one treated like a used car. It was a bit of a catalog of paint flaws on the outside, neither properly color sanded nor wet sanded: there was dust, fisheyes and orangepeel, all together. The engine was equally sketchy, with hoses squishier than I like them and a chromed shock bar cut into the shock tower sheetmetal. It didn’t smell so good inside, and had five-spoke Cragars. The vibe was thoroughly high school, when you don’t value your life so highly. In 2009 or so, you might have been able to get this car for $20,000, but in 2011 it’s hard to touch a 351, four-speed Mach 1, even in this condition, for much under $30,000. The clearcoat will be rock hard now but it might be possible for an expert to get it smoother. That, a couple of weekends of making the engine right, interior detailing and a set of Magnum 500s would probably cost a couple thousand dollars or so, but pay off nicely in the top bid.

I was sure this behemoth was a bracket car, but the seller claimed street driving only. If I was driving it on the street – which I wouldn’t – I’d at least want carpet. Seriously – why? The most egregious thing about it was that it had been tubbed to accept Centerline Convo Pros – this was a valuable car, don’t cut it up. It had dozens of door dings and runs in the paint. The hood scoop was held on, sort of, with rusty Phillips screws. Terry McGean points out that the “Trans Am” logo is supposed to go below the headlamps, not above. Inside, there was a Formula wheel, speakers but no stereo head, and a roll cage. Loose wiring was everywhere. T-tops had been liberally sealed. Yet for all that, this was a reasonable sale. The engine was a clean 454 with Dart heads and either a Dart or Edelbrock manifold, and the headers looked uncooked. Between that, a Ford 9-inch rear and the body, there were a lot of usable parts. Just preferably not all in the same car. I don’t have enough comparable cars for a true average value, but would have put it closer to $7,500 – what’s your take?

My expectations were low. Less expensive Ferraris are sometimes the victims of deferred maintenance – when you can accumulate a third of a car’s value in annual service costs, there isn’t much incentive to keep it up. This was not one of those, being clean and tight, and a recent major service under its belt. It showed around 70,700 km, which works out to about 44,000 miles. That’s exactly the range you want to look for in a car like this – it averages a little less than 1,500 miles annually.

Maybe there’s a Canadian issue that makes this car particularly unappealing to own – some sort of onerous tax? Insurance premiums? Or perhaps it belched out a cloud of smoke on the block? I didn’t see. But not only was the top bid barely half the market value for the car, but the consignor asked $20,000 for it in the car corral. I could maybe see it bringing $25,000, but if it was all that it appeared, I hope someone was smart enough to jump on this deal.

This may have been a rare case where “all original” actually meant original, as it did not appear to me to have been touched. On the other hand, Terry McGean pointed out that for a northern 1969 Mustang not to be full of rust, it has either led an exceptionally charmed life, or has been redone. With that in consideration, I’m going to hazard there was probably a repaint in the Eighties, and the visible rust in the drip rails says there’s whole mess more, unseen, down low. The Marti indicated this was an S-code 390 Mach 1, with automatic and AC. It was on incorrect Rally-style wheels, and the seats were torn.

Probably the most interesting thing about it, aside from a black exterior over white interior, was the 390. You almost always see either the base 351, or a 428. Restored 390s with automatic and AC run about $55,000, so for the right restorer, the $23,000 sticker on it in the car corral might have been appealing.

This was a really good car that with some attention to detail could aspire to greatness. I believe this was a real 350hp, 396 car, although there was no information about the date coding. It included the automatic, power steering, power brakes and other options. The paint was thick, but the car was otherwise clean and correct, if not sparkling. The seats were recovered but not restored. It showed 4,900 miles, probably the correct mileage since restoration.

There was a $35,000 tag on it in the car corral, which is what I’d want to pay for it if it was brought up to #2 quality. As presented, however, I’d call the top bid dead on, as good four-speed 350hp 396s start just above there.

Signs pointed to this being a real SS, with the package’s standard 300hp 350. It had that look like someone had owned it for so long they’d lost sight of where they started – bits of extra dress-up chrome in the engine, Accel and Moroso electronics. Houndstooth seats were shot, the door panels rattled. Masking during painting had problems, as there were chips where it was removed, as well as where trim was installed. Power steering, but manual brakes, painted steel wheels. It’s hard enough to find a ’69 SS 350 that hasn’t been massively messed with that this really stuck out. Hugger Orange didn’t hurt, either. A $22,000 sticker in the car corral was certainly fair, but with $3,000 between that and the top bid, I’d think someone could have made it happen.

A very well restored Pierce-Arrow, but one that was restored some time ago and has since not been used much. It did not appear to have show duty, either, as it lacked the distinctive scuffs and paint wear that frequent display produces. The “soft side” (as opposed to all-metal hard side) leather top showed some shrinkage, and the door handles were stiff. However, the exterior finish and interior fabrics were both still show-quality. The engine was not. I talked to 133 aficionado Bob Lind, who says that after combing through the PAS roster for over 40 years, he’s come up with 14 survivors in this 125CF bodystyle. They seldom trade hands at auction; and Bob thought this bid was generous. “$54,000 was a fair price for all parties,” he said. “In this economy? He should have taken it.” Bob also indicated that aside from missing two small vertical elements in the bumper, it appeared very correct, including the paint color. I think the near show quality probably justified holding out for more. For sale at $60,000 in the car corral, and “Pierce-Arrow” and “car corral” are phrases seldom put together.

You couldn’t call me a 3000 expert, but I’m certainly a fan, and have spent a fair amount of time in and around them. This one I did not spend any time in: It stank of cat urine. That right there will cause your car to go unsold. Or, as in this case, go at absolute fire sale prices. A good detailer can do a lot to help with that; not taking care of it smacks of desperation. Or, I suppose, not having a sense of smell. It showed 77,700 miles, and I would bet that was on restoration. If it were me, I would want to restore it again. The crazy Austin-Healey boom may be over, but this is still a $55,000 car, restored. On the other hand, even catty, this was an absolute, screaming bargain and there’s no downside whatsoever to taking some time over the winter to spruce it up a little and driving it until it quits. Hemmings has a disassembled car in primer for $10,000 right now.

Old XK150s actually hold together quite well – I saw a used-up one this summer dicing with contemporary Ferraris. I was thus not concerned by the condition here – repainted a while ago, with the original interior and who knows what done, or not done, to the engine. Original, maybe, weatherstrip was squished out of the doors, some trim was crooked and there was an old Alpine cassette deck under the dash.

These coupes are much more popular, and common, in Europe, where even non-S examples overlap in price with Cabriolets. In the U.S., however, the XK market is dominated by open cars. Selling this in a left-hand-drive European country – like say at Rétromobile – might get another $10,000 in bids (or at least the same number in Euros). Even in the United States, though, fixed-head coupes have appreciated substantially in the last three years. They’re great, great cars.

Another one to throw out to the audience for a value. These conversions were done by Coach Builders in Miami; I’ve seen one or two others, but I had to track down the owner in somewhere called South Ajax, Ontario, (about 45 minutes up the lake from Toronto) for more details. Steve tells me the conversion was done in 1996, and he has a receipt for a little under $14,000 for the work. He didn’t have it done; he bought the car in ’96, and had since had an ex-dealership M-B tech maintain it. I wish he’d cleaned the engine while he was at it. It was repainted at that time and again two years ago, along with a new roof. The interior featured rosary beads and a decent, patinated interior. A little over 155,000 miles were reading, not a deal breaker for an ’82 Mercedes.

Oh yeah, it was also a donk, with 20-inch, 10-spoke Rock Star wheels, with body color insert, Steve pointed out. It did include a set of mounted factory alloys, but you’d think the suspension had been modified to accept 20s. Steve advertised it locally at $29,500 this fall, but said he’d take the $17,500 I saw on it in the car corral. Or perhaps the $16,000 he’d crossed off and scribbled over. Good luck with all that, Steve.

LEGEND
Condition: #1-Excellent; #2-Very Good; #3-Average; #4-Poor; #5-Major project
Reserve: Minimum price owner will accept
Top price bid: The highest offer made on an unsold vehicle
Selling Price: For what the vehicle sold
Average Selling Price: Average market value of vehicles in similar condition

In response to previous questions, I’d like to mention that I derive the average selling prices listed from actual recent transaction; they’re not book values.

5 Responses to “Auction overflow: Canada’s Collector Car Productions”

Interesting mix of cars David. A good lesson in why not to excessively personalize your collector car. Convertible conversion, tubs and cat pee all do not help in the long run.

This also brings to mind things like the Sunray Bugs debacle where people were screaming that these old cars must be saved. I think there’s probably a lot of unwanted old cars out there that are in good condition, and the oversupply is only going to get worse as us old guys get out of the hobby and the young guys stick with video games.

I think that what we’re seeing is a combination of tightened purse strings (due to the economy) and maybe things are settling back down to where they should be in the first place. Unsold cars aren’t necessarily unwanted cars but are bid to what the public think they’re worth. I’ve noticed that since the televised auctions started coming out on the Speed Channel, everyone suddenly thought that the rust bucket in the back trees was worth a small fortune. This is no longer the case. True, the maximum high-end cars are still bringing in the money but the lesser ones and especially the clones are falling off rapidly.
Of course I might find myself eating those words when I get to Scotsdale in a couple of weeks.